|
Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German left-wing playwright, best known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, and was imprisoned for five years for his actions. He wrote several plays and poetry during that period, which gained him international renown. They were performed in London and New York as well as Berlin. In 2000, several of his plays were published in an English translation. In 1933 Toller was exiled from Germany after the Nazis came to power. He did a lecture tour in 1936-1937 in the United States and Canada, settling in California for a while before going to New York. He joined other exiles there. Struggling financially and depressed at learning his brother and sister had been sent to a concentration camp in Germany, he committed suicide in May 1939. == Life and career == Toller was born in 1893 into a Jewish family in Samotschin (Szamocin), Province of Posen, Prussia (Posen is now part of Poland). He had a sister and brother. They grew up speaking Yiddish and German, and he later became fluent in English. At the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered for military duty. After serving for thirteen months on the Western Front,〔 he suffered a complete physical and psychological collapse. His first drama, ''Transformation'' (''Die Wandlung'', 1919), was wrought from his wartime experiences. Together with leading anarchists, such as B. Traven and Gustav Landauer, and communists, Toller was involved in the short-lived 1919 Bavarian Soviet Republic. He served as President from April 6 to April 12. His government did little to restore order in Munich. His government members were not always well-chosen. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Deputy Dr. (who had been admitted several times to psychiatric hospitals) informed Vladimir Lenin via cable that the ousted former Minister President, Johannes Hoffmann, had fled to Bamberg and taken the key to the ministry toilet with him. On Palm Sunday, April 1919, the Communist Party seized power, with Eugen Leviné as their leader. Shortly after that, the republic was defeated by right-wing forces. The noted authors Max Weber and Thomas Mann testified on Toller's behalf when he was tried for his part in the revolution. He was sentenced to only five years in prison. He served his sentence in the prisons of Stadelheim, Neuburg, Eichstätt. From February 1920 until his release, he was in the fortress of Niederschönenfeld, where he spent 149 days in solitary confinement and 24 days on hunger strike. His time in prison was productive; he completed work on ''Transformation'', which premiered in Berlin under the direction of Karlheinz Martin in September 1919. At the time of ''Transformations 100th performance, the Bavarian government offered Toller a pardon. He refused it out of solidarity with other political prisoners. Toller continued writing in prison, completing some of what would be his most celebrated works, including the dramas ''Masses Man'' (''Masse Mensch''), ''The Machine Breakers'' (''Die Maschinenstürmer''), ''Hinkemann, the German'' (''Der deutsche Hinkemann''), and many poems. These works established him as an important German expressionist playwright, and they used symbols derived from the First World War and its aftermath in his society. Not until after his release from prison in July 1925 was Toller able to see any of his plays performed. In 1925, the most famous of his later dramas, ''Hoppla, We're Alive!'' (''Hoppla, wir Leben!''), directed by Erwin Piscator, premiered in Berlin. It tells of a revolutionary discharged from a mental hospital after eight years, who discovers that his former comrades have grown complacent and compromised within the system they once opposed. In despair, he kills himself.〔Pearlman, Alan Raphael, ed. and trans. 2000. ''Plays One: Transformation, Masses Man, Hoppla, We're Alive!.'' By Ernst Toller. Absolute Classics series. London: Oberon. ISBN 1-84002-195-0. pp. 17, 31〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ernst Toller」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|